Democracy In Action

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Saturday, I took Alex to the local Democratic caucus. It was held in the elementary school just up the street from our house. And I must say, it was pretty inspiring to see all of the people walking there with us. The entire community was rallying around the upcoming election. When we got to the school, there was a line around the block just to get inside.

Once we got inside, it was crowded and hot inside the school gymnasium. There were 10 precincts caucusing in that gym, and each precinct had about 100 voters showing up. When you add in all of the kids, it was a very crowded place indeed.

Even though he can’t vote, Alex had a great time. He was energized from all of the people around him. He ran around, pointing at the circles painted on the gymnasium floor, and he stopped and smiled at anyone who’d pay attention to him.

We left shortly before the second vote. We didn’t need to stay for the whole thing to know how things were going to turn out; in the initial vote, Obama was ahead by 2-1. The speeches that the campaign coordinators gave only seemed to solidify his margin. Heck, even Alex has been known to say, “Barack O-MAMA!” at times.

I don’t know what’s going to happen in the rest of the country, but in Seattle, the population is eager for political change.